Ghigau 23

23.  Sunday/Monday morning 16th & 17th

 

 

Sam made the phone call late on Sunday night. She had promised, so it had to be done.

    Lenny, who had checked his screen at least a hundred times that evening - worrying he would miss this call - had just been up to look in on Lydia and had left the phone on the arm of a sofa; he had to leap the last four steps of the stairs and cross the living room in two giant strides, in order to answer the call before his voicemail kicked in. 

    “Hello Lenny, it’s SamanthaTate.”

    Lenny, uncharacteristically slightly out of breath, forwent any niceties and launched straight into the questions that had been churning around in his mind, “I’m going crazy here, tell me what’s happening? Who is this guy, why did Nikki get in his car? Where is she now?” The words rushed out of him like escaping steam. He sat down heavily, simultaneously dreading and eagerly anticipating Sam’s answers.

    “I’m sorry I don’t have better news but it looks as if the car we observed on the cctv footage was using false plates, the owner has an alibi for the time in question which we are in the process of checking out.” Sam said.

    Lenny was dumbfounded. “But, but…” He just didn’t know what to say. He massaged his temples and screwed his eyes up in disbelief.

    Sam interjected, “Look I know this is hard, really I do understand, but we are studying the images to see if there is any other way to identify the vehicle, plus we still have footage from other sections of the route we think Mrs Talbot took to analyse, so please be assured things are happening in the background.

    Lenny was so disappointed he felt like punching something. “Is there anything else? Are you sure this guy isn’t connected to this at all?

    “All I can say is that he has an alibi for the time frame which, if it checks out, means he couldn’t have been involved or at least was not the person driving the car, or travelling in it at all.” 

    Lenny took a deep breath, haranguing the Police wasn’t going to help Nikki, he had to assume they were trying their best, he knew that. “What about the emails and the messages? Do you know any more?”

    “Enquiries are ongoing, but no developments yet.” She hesitated, then added, “It can take time, most of the big social media companies are based oversea and they can be very slow to respond to information requests, I’m sorry.” Sam sounded genuinely disappointed not to have better news.

    “Will you keep me informed if there is any development? Anything at all, no matter how trivial?”  said Lenny.

    “Of course. I recommend you try and get some rest, I know that’s not easy but there’s nothing you can do right now.” Sam said she really had to go as she was needed, bade him goodnight, and hung up.

 

Lenny, however, wasn’t so sure about doing nothing. After speaking with Sam he’d sent a WhatsApp message to the number he had for Tariq Hussain.

    Tariq didn’t reply until the next morning, but he did agree to try and help with Lenny’s request. Sure enough, an hour or so later several images of the black Mercedes appeared on Lenny’s phone. When he saw the one of Nikki stepping in to the car his heart skipped a beat. He looked at it closely. Could he tell what she was thinking when she got in that car? He knew her so well, was there anything in her body language to give him a clue? She was so close to home, virtually around the corner, why on earth would she just leave, why didn’t she come home first and tell him why she needed to go and where? The images made her seem maddeningly close. He sighed with frustration.

    

      He knew nothing about cars but he knew a man who did. 

 

By 9.00 am on Monday, having let Jake know he wouldn’t be in until later,  Lenny was at Terry’s Garage under the arches of Kings Cross Station. The eponymous Terry had been looking after his and Nikki’s cars for the last ten years or so and was a talented mechanic and, as Lenny knew by dint of long conversations about timing-belts and torque-converters, most of which went straight over his head, a fanatic about all things car related.

    After a brief explanation Lenny showed him the pictures of the Mercedes. Terry wiped the oil from his big hands with a rag and then took the phone. He scrolled through the pictures and then, holding up a grimy finger indicating that Lenny should wait, went over to his tiny wooden office at the back of the long, poorly-lit workshop and spent a minute or two on his computer before returning to Lenny who was waiting anxiously by the huge painted doors that bore the garage’s name in 3D gold lettering. 

    “Well, I can tell you one thing for sure,” said Terry.

    “What?” Lenny said.

    “That Mercedes doesn’t match that number plate,”  Terry said emphatically.

    Lenny’s mouth dropped open, “How can you know that just from these pictures? The Police have them and they didn’t seem to know right off.”

    “The one in the picture is less than a year old and the number plate is registered to a six year old model.” Terry said in a tone that implied anyone who didn’t know this was an idiot,

    “Are you sure?” Lenny asked excitedly.

    Terry brought up the photo of the rear of the Mercedes. “That rear valance and exhaust pipe design is only on the latest model, and not just that but only the limousine AMG 6 litre, which is a £200k car if it’s a penny. The model registered to the number plate has done 85k miles and is probably worth £20k tops.”

    “How do you know the mileage?” Lenny was impressed.

    “I looked at the MOT history. It’s public information, if you know where to look.” Terry smiled and handed Lenny his phone back. “Whoever owns this one has a few bob that’s for sure, or it’s rented.”

    Lenny thanked Terry, shaking his hand firmly and, after promising him he would never use another garage, walked back to his car and headed home. 

    Now he had a dilemma, he couldn’t let the Police know about this information without compromising Tariq and he didn’t want to do that. He gave it some thought. Why hadn’t the police released the pictures to the press? Wasn’t that what they did? He sat in the kitchen and dialled Samantha Tate’s number.

    “Mr Talbot?” Sam answered on the second ring.

    “Hello… Sam.” Lenny still felt a little uncomfortable using the detective’s first name, even though she had insisted, it was doubly odd when she reverted to ‘Mr Talbot’. 

    “I wondered when you are going to release pictures of the car?” he said. “I would think it might jog memories wouldn’t you?” 

    “We have already, I’m sorry I should have pointed that out before. They are online as of this morning and have been circulated to all the local businesses.” Sam apologised.

    “I haven’t seen them?” Lenny was peeved. Why hadn’t they told him this?

    “I’ll send you a link on your mobile - sorry again.” 

    “What’s happened with this person? Are you just going to release them? How do you know they’re not involved in some way?” Lenny’s tone of voice betrayed his lack of confidence in the investigation.

    “We haven’t released Mr O’Donnell no,” Sam paused, “he has been detained for further questioning on another matter which, to be honest, suits us, as we have more time to make doubly sure his alibi is watertight.”

    “What other matter?” Lenny asked immediately, as he jotted the name ‘O’Donnell’ down on the kitchen notepad.

    “I can’t discuss that I’m afraid, but please know that the team and I are doing everything we can to find Nikki, we aren’t just sitting on our laurels when you don’t hear from me, we are checking data and that takes time.”

    “Is there any progress on those crackpot emails Nikki was getting?” Lenny wan’t going to be put off. He thought he detected a sigh of impatience from Sam.

    “Nothing concrete, but when there is we’ll be sure to let you know. For now, please just try to be patient.”

    “Easy for you to say.” Lenny retorted.

    Sam didn’t react. “We’ll be in touch as soon as there is news, you have my word.” 

    Lenny couldn’t hold it in any longer. “If you were doing your job you would know that the Mercedes in the cctv footage is a much more expensive and newer model than the number plate suggests”

    There was a short pause.

    “I thought you hadn’t seen the photos of the car Lenny?” She was back to first names now.

    “Never mind that, I have a friend who is very knowledgable about cars, he says the car on the cctv is less than a year old and costs about £200k - there can’t be many of those floating about London surely? Can’t you check that kind of thing?”

    “Who is this friend?” Sam asked.

    Lenny didn’t want to get Terry in trouble but then why would he be? All he’d done was identify a photograph. He gave Sam Terry’s details.

    “We’ll look in to it of course.” Sam said, sounding a bit miffed. She reassured him again that they were taking Nikki’s disappearance very seriously, before ending the call.